The Amazing Race
by ficdirectory
Summary: The BAU competes on The Amazing Race. Written as part of the CM Amazing Race LJ community/competition. ABANDONED.


_It is not down in any map; true places never are. _- Herman Melville

"Are you serious? You're coming back?" Garcia asked, shock clearly showing on her pretty face.

"Yes, but Garcia, you can't say anything. Promise me. No one knows… No one's _supposed _to know yet, okay?" JJ smiled, but her nervousness was clear in how she scanned the area around Buckingham Fountain for any other arrivals or cameras, afraid of the possibility of being overheard.

"Yeah. Yeah. I promise. Totally cool," Garcia vowed, pausing only briefly before squealing and wrapping her arms around JJ tightly. "I can't believe you were going to let me run this entire stupid race thinking that afterward, I'd have to go back to work and be the only woman in the place!"

"Garcia!" JJ exclaimed, laughing. "_Cool_, remember? Squeezing the life out of me is going to look pretty suspicious…"

"Jaje. We're best friends. It would look suspicious if I _wasn't _squeezing the life out of you…" Garcia smiled.

JJ cleared her throat and stepped away as people with cameras appeared and started setting up. Garcia immediately closed her mouth and looked uncomfortable. JJ had it on good authority that though Garcia was a theatre performer, she had a very real fear of being filmed. JJ lived in front of cameras. She was used to them, but the same wasn't true for everyone.

"So, Derek's gonna like this. Starting in Chicago?" JJ asked, hoping to put Garcia at ease.

"You know this fountain? I totally recognize it from the theme to _Married with Children_," Garcia whispered, facing away from the camera. She cracked a smile.

"_That's _why it looks familiar!" JJ exclaimed.

They were here on a two-week break from work. At Strauss's insistence, everyone was required to do a team-building exercise. Garcia hadn't been up for it, but then someone told her that they would be doing The Amazing Race. She had called up JJ and that was that. Of course, Strauss had not been on board at _all_. JJ was not a current member. Why not take Seaver? But Garcia knew there was no way that was happening. Ashley had her own things going on and didn't need to be distracted by a trip around the world. Garcia thought she might turn up at the last second, though. Otherwise, the teams would be uneven.

They stood by the fountain, bags at their feet, waiting for the others to arrive. Garcia knew how they must look, dressed in bright green tee shirts, matching bandanas and black workout pants. JJ wore her bandana like a sweatband while Garcia wore hers to keep her hair back. It had been a major compromise for Garcia to come to this thing in such drab attire, but she managed it. If being boring meant she got to spend time with JJ and race around the world, she would do it, tennis shoes and all. The producers had been thrilled when she and JJ signed up as a girl power team. They wanted to go completely predictable and airy, suggesting the ladies wear pink. JJ didn't care, but Garcia refused. She watched the show. She knew that the team wearing pink was also the team that usually was made to look clueless.

When the others arrived in a cluster, Garcia squinted. She definitely saw a brunette female head in that bunch of testosterone and Strauss. Mentally, she counted them off in her head: Her hunk of burning love, a.k.a. Derek Morgan, Rossi, Strauss, Hotch, Reid and… But it couldn't be…

"Emily?" she gasped, and forgetting about the cameras, ran to embrace her friend.

"Hey," she said, as if nothing had happened. As if nothing was amiss. As if she wasn't back from the dead and very much alive under Garcia's shaking hands. Hugging her was like hugging a wish or a dream or a ghost, but one with substance and weight, who looked like Emily and sounded like Emily but couldn't possibly be Emily.

Garcia stared. She couldn't breathe.

JJ watched, from a few steps behind Garcia, her arms crossed over her chest. Even though she knew - had known all along that Emily was alive - JJ couldn't keep her mouth from falling open in shock. Emily looked healthy again, not pale and beaten as she had been at the hospital, or tired and stressed as she had been in France. Her face had good color, her nails, once bloody and bitten to the quick had grown out. There was no obvious evidence that she had ever been impaled by a piece of wood, unless you counted the way Derek kept a hand on her, and how Emily always kept him in her line of sight.

Shaking her head, JJ fought to clear it, in time to see Garcia looking like she was about to pass out. She was several shades paler than was healthy, shaking, and couldn't seem to wrap her mind around the fact that this was real. Quickly, JJ took in the rest of them, and figured Hotch had briefed the guys, and Strauss must have already known. JJ felt a little raw that she had not been told of this development. How could JJ prepare Garcia if no one told JJ in advance? She had worked to hide Emily in the first place; shouldn't she have known the moment it was safe for her to come back?

JJ forced herself to stop this. She didn't need to be selfishly wishing for some kind of involvement. She needed to make sure Garcia didn't need medical attention right out of the gate. Firmly, she grasped Garcia by the arm and guided her down to rest on her own luggage.

"Whoa, whoa, okay… Sit," JJ urged.

"What are you _doing here_?" Garcia exclaimed, trying to catch her breath, unable to let go of Emily's hands. This was unreal.

"Well, since Doyle's no longer a threat, and his mercenaries disbanded…" she shrugged. "I was in Witness Protection…living overseas…" Emily trailed off, and finally embraced Garcia.

"I missed you so much!" Fury suddenly flashed across Garcia's pretty face. "How could you do this? You were alive this whole time? God, Emily! We _buried _you! There's a headstone with _your name _on it!"

"I'm sorry," Emily said, and for a second, there were tears in her eyes. "I never wanted it to go that far. I just…I had to protect you…"

The wheels turned in Garcia's mind, and slowly, she faced JJ. "You knew. You knew she was alive and you told us she wasn't."

Against her will, JJ took a step back. This was everything she feared. That if Emily did come back, they would put the pieces together and blame her for the lie she had to tell.

Emily squatted so that she was at eye-level with Garcia, who still didn't look steady. "JJ's job? It was to keep me alive. At all costs. And she _did that_. I'm sorry you went through the pain of thinking I was dead, but I don't blame her, and neither should you." She waited a beat. "We're a _team_. Always. All right? She was keeping me safe, just like we're meant to."

Slowly Garcia nodded. Belatedly, she noticed the tears in JJ's eyes.

"Ugh. Come here," she said, roughly pulling her teammate closer to them. The three of them were silent a few seconds with their heads bent and tears falling. Finally, Garcia could stand it no more and fought to lighten the mood. "Finally, more estrogen around here," she sighed, and laughter broke the tension.

* * *

><p>Moments later, they heard an absurd request:<p>

"Ladies? Could you do that again? We weren't quite ready to catch it," a producer said somewhere in the mass of people and equipment.

"Hell, no." Derek denied, stepping forward.

Garcia, speechless, just stared.

JJ stepped up, unafraid, to face off with the producer. This was turf she was familiar with. Irritating people. Unreasonable requests. Cameras.

"We won't be doing anything again. We're not actors." she said seriously, arms crossed. "Whatever you shoot, you use. But we're not about to fake a genuine moment so you can get ratings."

An awkward silence fell and the host arrived, looking tan with his hair freshly highlighted. He opened the show, directing all the teams to the first clue box. JJ was aware of the disappointment when the eight of them walked amiably and as a group to retrieve the first clue. It would serve those assholes right. They were family. You didn't mess with family.

JJ pulled the first clue out of the box and read it aloud to the group. "Drive to O'Hare Airport and book a flight to Stockholm, Sweden."

"I'll find a computer there and figure out what's quickest," Garcia promised, slowly recovering from the shock of seeing Emily.

* * *

><p>"There is a grand total of <em>one <em>flight - via Scandinavian airlines - leaving for Stockholm. At 4:25 PM. Eight hours and 20 minutes in the air. With the time change, it will put our arrival at approximately 7:45 AM, Stockholm time," she announced to the group, assembled behind her.

They made a decision. If there were a single flight, they would take it as a team, and be a team until they arrived at their first official location. Then, they would compete. Of course, Strauss was insisting that "this wasn't protocol," but she was ignored. Even Hotch, who was dressed in a matching red shirt. Rossi and Reid wore coordinating blue shirts, while Derek and Emily each wore deep purple.

"We need eight tickets to Stockholm, Sweden, on your 4:25 PM flight," JJ announced in an all-business voice.

In no time, tickets were acquired. Soon, they were on a flight, seated as close as seating would allow.

"I miss the jet," JJ heard Rossi mutter somewhere behind her and smiled. They weren't used to flying commercially.

"I thought you hated the jet," Hotch countered, a smile obvious in his voice.

"It wasn't the _jet_ itself but the change it symbolized and all that happened in his absence," Reid volunteered. "Anyone want to play cards? Gin?"

Though JJ was tempted, she thought it best to sleep. Garcia was already there, slumped against JJ's shoulder, crocheting hooks and yarn held loosely in her hands. Taking a deep breath, JJ got comfortable, and willed herself to sleep. Because after these eight hours, she would need to run like hell.

* * *

><p>"JJ…seriously? I hate that damn camera…" Garcia muttered under her breath, as it zoomed in for a close-up of the teams disembarking the plane.<p>

"Garcia…just ignore it. It's not…"

JJ trailed off and squinted as she saw other rainbow shirts outside the airport. A pink ladies team - Derek's sisters - judging by the resemblance. Seaver in a dark blue shirt. Lila Archer, an actress Reid had befriended years ago, in a light blue shirt. Kevin and Will in hazard orange. Jack and Henry in bright yellow. Anderson and Gina were in white. And last but not least, Gideon and Elle in black.

Everyone disregarded instructions to locate the clue box and instead ran to the newcomers. JJ found Will and Henry, Garcia went to Kevin, and Hotch found Jack. Meanwhile, Rossi abandoned Reid and joined forces with Seaver, while Reid was thrilled to team up with Lila. Derek went to greet his sisters. Gideon and Elle hung out on the fringes and eventually Reid brought Lila to them, and they all began visiting with Anderson and Gina.

"Will. What are you doing here?" JJ asked, embracing Henry and then her husband.

"We came to protect our fair maidens," Kevin interjected from nearby.

"What he said," Will drawled, kissing JJ softly on the mouth. "There was no way I was letting my wife have all the fun without me."

"Honey," JJ asked, holding her three-year-old's face between her hands. "Did you come to see me?"

Henry nodded, suddenly shy.

"JJ!" Jack shrieked in a sudden moment of recognition. "My dad said you don't work at the same work anymore! I thought you were gone!" he exclaimed, squeezing the life out of her.

She looked over his head at Hotch, her eyebrows raised. Jack had grown. She tried to do the math, figuring him to be around six years old and hardly believing it.

"Me and Henry are teammates! And don't worry. I'll protect him really good," Jack promised, Hotch's seriousness all over his tiny face. He stared into JJ's eyes with an intensity she hadn't seen before. He had been so little last spring…

"Wow. Thank you. That means a lot. I'm glad Henry will have you looking out for him."

JJ pulled away and took Will aside. "You are not letting our son compete on some race around the world."

"I couldn't leave him home by himself, could I? Not with both of us here…" Will said, trying to lighten the mood.

"Not funny." JJ snapped. But _you swear_ to me that you're going to be with him every second. He's not competing with a six-year-old. They're babies."

"JJ. Relax. They're little boys. They're not a team. Jack just got it in his head that they ought to be. Since everyone else was wearing matching clothes. Henry's coming with Kevin and me, all right? Don't worry. I don't care what they say," he said, gesturing with his head to the group of producers. "Henry comes first."

Looking across the airport, she saw that Hotch had similar misgivings and was guiding Jack by the hand to join himself and Strauss. JJ could hear Strauss complaining that all these extra people were compromising the integrity of what they were here to achieve, and JJ rolled her eyes. Closer to where she stood, Garcia had discovered Henry and was covering him with kisses.

"Are you going to run your very fastest? Do you promise?"

Giggles poured out of Henry. "Yes, 'Cia! I promise!"

"Good! Because we want to see you every day!" Garcia stood then, adjusting the bandana in her hair that had been skewed in all the hugging. "And," she said intentionally to Kevin. "I want to see _you_ every day."

"Oh, I intend to see you," he said, smiling. "Every-" One kiss. "Day-" A second. "Of my-" Three. Garcia was going to faint. "Life."

Slowly, the group trickled outside.

"Okay, everyone! New twist!"

* * *

><p>One of the disgruntled producers had stepped up. He was done with the big happy family routine. Done with the reunion special. These teams had already ruined the opening by moving as one group instead of four teams, which is why he made the executive decision to bring in more teams. Of course, they had managed to mess that up, too, by breaking up partnerships and forming new little family units. There was, in his mind, only one thing left to do. Play to their instincts.<p>

Each team would have their own victim to save. They would not know the fate of their victim until the very end of the race. And he would give them to the original four teams. JJ and Garcia, Morgan and Prentiss, Hotch and Strauss and Rossi and Seaver. Reid and Lila would be enough of a spectacle, with their love connection and their lack of athletic ability.

"Some of you will find a case file with your clue. This is your team's victim. Only your team can save them."

He saw JJ and Garcia exchange worried glances and smiled to himself.

"The world is waiting for you. Travel safe. Go!"

* * *

><p>JJ elbowed her way through the crowd, once she was sure that Henry and Jack weren't in the throng. She grabbed the clue with their faces on it and read it out.<p>

"Travel to the Nordic Sea Hotel and its nightclub made entirely of ice."

She waited until they were on their way to read more thoroughly. To see if producers really expected them to believe that lives were on the line. The truth was, it didn't matter. Either way, JJ planned to compete. She planned to run hard, and get there first.

"I thought Emily would be way changed, but she almost took you down at the clue box…" Garcia observed softly, aware of the cameraman in the front passenger seat. "How are we supposed to compete against her? She's a spy! She has strategy for days…"

"Garcia! Come on! We need to focus. I'm not thrilled about competing against my husband and son, but that's where we are. Okay. What do we know about Nancy Kirkland?" she asked, showing Garcia the picture.

"Oh, my God… They were serious?" Garcia asked. Her eyes were huge behind her glasses as she stared at the file with a photo of the woman with a messy abdominal gunshot wound, and strangulation marks.

She breathed and tried to compose herself while JJ kept an eye out for their stop.

"Wait. JJ. Look at this."

"Look at what?" JJ asked, distracted. She couldn't admit that if she looked at that picture of the strangled lady, she might pass out. It reminded her of too many horrible things. Her sister's death. JJ herself, being strangled when she was taken hostage with the team less than a year earlier.

Garcia dropped her voice to a whisper and spoke directly into JJ's ear. "This picture is totally bogus. It's photo-shopped. Look at these edges and how they don't quite match. And _Nancy Kirkland _was a character in movie from 1954, called "Away From Here". I know because my mother was, like, an uber fan."

"Was there a death scene like this?" JJ asked softly.

"No, it was a romance film. If I remember right, though, the actress that plays her…she was also a stage actress and her face looks made up for the a play…" Garcia squinted at the photo again, taking in details she had missed due to the gory gunshot wound. For the first time, she noticed a hand, holding a gun.

"That right there? That is a prop," Garcia announced happily in a hushed voice. The last thing she wanted to do was piss off the people who had cameras in their faces, so she would play along with their sick little game. Garcia would race and race hard, if it meant she got to spend more time with JJ.

"I can't believe she's back…" JJ whispered, leaning back and closing her eyes. "Emily."

"Everything's the way it should be," Garcia echoed.

"It should have never changed."

* * *

><p>"Holy crap. They weren't kidding when they said ice hotel," Garcia shivered. They had already seen Derek and Emily and Hotch, Strauss and Jack slide in ahead of them. JJ quickly read the clue.<p>

"Slide a shot glass down a bar made of ice. Hit the target and the bartender will give you your next clue."

Before they went inside, they were given heavy arctic coats, which, JJ thought were unnecessary until she felt the chill. She assumed growing up in Pennsylvania, she'd be ready for cold weather, but she wasn't ready for this. She saw Hotch holding Jack up, to have his turn sliding the glass toward the target. It slid, but not far enough.

Amid angry looks from the crew, JJ and Garcia took Jack aside with them, holding him close for warmth until Hotch managed to nail the target on his third slide. Strauss was a mess, but managed to hit it after shattering three-dozen glasses.

"Good luck," he said, on his way out the door. He had ghosts in his eyes and JJ wondered if he knew the whole victim thing was a ruse. He _should_ being the team leader, but they had all had an incredibly hard year. And she had it on good authority that working with Strauss took all one's self control and concentration.

Garcia stepped up to the bar first. "This challenge was made for me," she announced, smiling gleefully and expertly sliding a shot glass down the bar. JJ thought it was good, but at the last second, it skidded to the side and broke.

"Oh! Tough luck, lady! Step aside, and watch the master," JJ said, laughing. She squinted, adjusting her eyes to the bluish light and sent the glass down the bar. It was like darts and shuffleboard. She played both. She rocked at both. Her glass hit the target on the second try.

JJ was coaching Garcia through just how to hit the target exactly, when Gideon and Elle arrived. JJ felt herself stiffen. None of them had seen Elle in years, or Gideon for that matter. But Elle in particular was a loose cannon. Elle was the one who had shot a suspect in a moment of total vigilante justice and gotten away with it. JJ knew it. They all knew it. And it put her on edge.

"JJ. I swear. My fingers are turning into icicles. This is not an exaggeration. This is fact. Tell me how to hit this target so I can get out of here!" It took several more tries, but eventually Garcia hit the tiny target as well, and thank God, she had no idea that Elle and Gideon were waiting in line behind them.

* * *

><p>They found the world's largest IKEA store, their next stop, with little trouble, and the clue box, with a little searching. When JJ and Garcia saw the detour clue, "Count it or build it?" they made a quick decision, and ran for the bins of stuffed animals, pots and pans.<p>

Derek and Emily were already building a desk, and Garcia felt a pang of jealousy mixed with her shock of seeing Emily pounding nails. What she wouldn't give to watch Derek Morgan build a desk… She shook her head, and made herself focus.

"Okay, Pussycat! Here's what we're going to do. I am The Countess and you are my lovely transcriber. Capice? I'm not a wiz at a lot of things, but addition I am pretty good at. So! Every one hundred of these, make a mark. That way, I'm just counting to one hundred, not two billion…"

"Got it," JJ nodded, poised with a paper and pen.

Garcia got to work on the pots and pans first, which were grouped in odd twos and threes. But Garcia knew all about the tricks of the game. It got tougher when Hotch, Strauss and Jack arrived, and Jack started counting stuffed animals loudly and announcing each number.

"Thirteen, Daddy! Fourteen! Okay, Dad?"

But Garcia forced herself to shut out everything else. Kevin, Will and Henry showed up, and Henry climbed in the bin where she was throwing tiny stuffed animals. He giggled every time she tossed one in, and she let him.

"Eighty-nine, feeling fine….Ninety, ninety, find something shiny….One hundred and then, start all over again." A brief glance behind her to catch JJ's nod and Garcia was off, tossing animals and burying little Henry.

When she was finally done, Garcia stood. Before she could even get to JJ, she could see JJ tallying up the marks at a glance.

She scribbled a total and together they ran to the designated clue holder, who kept the clues in the waistband of her pants. JJ flashed their number and the person in charge shook her head.

"That's incorrect. You'll have to count again."

Garcia took a deep breath and forced herself to go back. She wouldn't waste time freaking out. "Jaje. You good?" she called, before starting again.

"Ready."

Again, Garcia channeled all her energy into counting. Again, Jack announced his numbers too loudly.

"Sixteen, eighteen, nineteen, twenty! I got _twenty_!"

"Good job, buddy. Keep working." Hotch called, while Strauss slammed pots and pans hard enough to make Garcia wince.

When Garcia announced the next hundred, JJ said something odd.

"Time!"

"JJ, this isn't tag. I can't stop, I gotta count!"

"Frow me toys, 'Cia! Ready, set, go!" Henry interrupted from inside the bin.

JJ ruffled Henry's hair, ignored Garcia's protests and pulled her aside. "Jack's counting from our bin making his own pile on the other side," she pointed out quietly. It wouldn't do any good to get after him for it, and they both knew that, but something had to be done.

They had just heard Derek and Emily's celebratory cheering of, "Yeah! That's right! Get it!" as they took off with their next clue. Derek's sisters, Sarah and Desiree, worked with an impressive speed, screwing in pieces and working completely as a team.

Reid and Lila had come and gone at the bins. Reid had counted all the items in a couple glances, and then made a lucky "inference" as he called it. He had gotten the right number, and they had taken off before anybody else. Garcia could only hope the next challenge was something physical, so that they couldn't get too far ahead. She liked hanging out with him. Of course, if the next challenge were physical, she would be in trouble, too. They couldn't afford to keep counting and recounting.

Garcia snapped back to attention at the sound of JJ's voice. She was talking to Hotch, and Strauss was scolding _JJ_ for interfering. Come to find out, it was Strauss who sent Jack to count from Garcia's bin. It just figured.

"_I'm _interfering? Really?" JJ asked, staring down Strauss.

"Yes. You are. Now, if you don't return to your own task, I'm going to have to ask the host to inflict a penalty on you."

"Here, buddy. You can count this pile," Hotch offered, when Jack looked perilously close to tears.

"I'm pretty sure that tricking a first grader into cheating will hold a bigger penalty than calling someone out on cheating," JJ insisted. She drew herself up. Garcia glanced across the room as Will prepared to intervene.

But Hotch reacted first. He stepped up to Strauss. His face was a mask of every scary expression Garcia had ever seen. This was why she never got on his bad side, because she never wanted to be on the receiving end of that face.

"Erin. I don't care about this race. But I care about my son, and I care about my team. If you use my son to cheat again, you're on your own, and that's a promise."

Strauss was speechless. Henry was oblivious, rolling around in a full bin of toys, and Garcia felt a headache coming on. She took a deep breath, and made sure that JJ was ready to go.

"One. Once upon a time there was an angry wizard who desired to rule over all the land."

Behind her, JJ snickered.

Two. Two great superheroes fought to gain control back and save the world from all her wickedness. _Three_ times, the wizard looked into her magical mirror and on the _fourth_ it cracked," Garcia narrated, tossing animals into the original bin, now empty.

Henry, catching on, climbed inside it, determined to catch every animal. "Good story. Right, Mama?"

"Right. Now listen. Let's see what happens next…"

* * *

><p>By the time Garcia and JJ boarded the train to ride eighteen miles to Haagvik, only Rossi and Seaver, and Anderson and Gina were behind them. On the train, they tried to prepare for whatever was ahead.<p>

"We need to make up time," Garcia insisted. "So, how are we gonna do it?"

"We just have to take things as they come…be flexible and stay focused. Sorry about losing it back there and yelling at Strauss."

"No, it's fine. We just have to make up some time now. Whatever this is, we've gotta do it and not give up. Deal?"

"Of course."

* * *

><p>The last thing they expected was to be riding a tandem bicycle two miles down a marked path toward their next clue. It took some time, and some situating to figure out the best way to go about it. Finally, Garcia was settled in front, while JJ rode in back. They got their pedaling into sync pretty quickly, thanks in part to JJ's ability to fall into a song with an innate rhythm.<p>

For their ride through the Swedish countryside, she chose Haddaway's What Is Love. It's just what came out, and it seemed to have a good affect on Garcia. So JJ belted out, "What is love? Baby, don't hurt me! Don't hurt me no more!" and laughed her ass off every time Garcia came in for the lady who had the riffing section.

It helped that they didn't forget to laugh. It broke tension and made the ride go by faster.

It was a good thing that they got their laughs while they could, because when they came face to face with a field full of hay bales, Garcia already knew what was coming.

"JJ?" she asked quietly, before they were even off the bike. "Will you take this one?"

"Yeah. I got it."

* * *

><p>JJ strode out to the field, thrilled to see that Spencer was still out here, pushing and shoving the smaller bales of hay. She could see already that he had started with a strategy. He had started in the middle and was working at going out concentrically from there. She also saw Kevin, tearing bales apart and making huge piles of hay. JJ made a point to stay away from them and started on an outside edge. Derek and Sarah were hilarious to listen to, running side by side and unrolling hay as fast as possible as they traded insults. She could only hope that the challenge of riding the tandem bike had held up Hotch and Strauss, Gideon and Elle and Rossi and Seaver and Anderson and Gina.<p>

JJ winced as she worked to unroll her first bale. She saw Will on the sidelines with Henry. They were eating animal crackers.

"Hey, Mama! Hey! I see you! Good job!" Henry shouted.

"Thanks, buddy!" she called back, trying to smile.

The reality was, this was harder than it looked. Her hands were quickly getting sliced up and the hay itself weighed as much as she did.

She caught sight of Emily and Garcia on standing off to the side, and did a double take. It was still weird seeing her here. She wondered what they were talking about and then shook her head. She had to do this. Sarah just found her clue, and left Derek swearing a streak, but congratulating her under his breath.

"Come on, JJ! You can do it!" Garcia called.

* * *

><p>"Hey, Garcia? We've got a problem," Emily confided in a hushed tone.<p>

"What's that?" Garcia asked.

It was strange, this feeling. This talking to Emily and simultaneously being unsure if she could trust her. Her eyes were drawn to the field and Derek, who had just stripped off his purple shirt and used it to mop his face. She bit back a witty and flirtatious remark, as the cameras were trained on them. She would get in major trouble if any of the higher-ups figured out they were actually rooting for each other.

"Let's go, Derek!" Emily insisted. "Quick and thorough! You can do this!"

A cheer went up as Kevin unearthed the next clue. Garcia felt a pang. She hadn't even checked in with him, to see how he was doing. But Emily caught her attention by grabbing Garcia's arm firmly.

"There are nine teams. Usually, according to policy, they start with at least ten."

"Yeah. I know that. I watch," Garcia said, still confused.

"Did you happen to count the clues left in the box when you got here?" Emily pressed.

Garcia shook her head. This reminded her too much of their last moments together. Emily, stressed and talking in code, while Garcia was clueless.

Wordlessly, Emily took Garcia's hand and scribbled something on her palm. Then she refocused her attention, as if they had never spoken.

* * *

><p>JJ's back was killing her. So far, Sarah and Kevin had both found their clue within minutes of her being here. Now, even Rossi and Seaver had come and gone. She, Derek and Spencer were having a hell of a time, though, and it was discouraging each time a team came and went.<p>

She had taken short breaks for water, and observed Spencer continuing to unroll a bale she had left behind. Normally she would have never left something half done, but she was aching and needed a rest. She needed to pace herself, or she would burn out.

JJ was about to return to the tedium of unrolling hay when Garcia caught her off guard.

"Hey." she said, pulling her close. Then, she opened her hand and showed her Emily's scrawled message.

Squinting, JJ read the messy ink on Garcia's palm:

ERIC RYAN OLSON + WILSON SUMMERS

Her eyes widened. She caught Emily's eye, and she nodded.

"The victims are bogus…could the extra team be, too?" JJ asked Garcia, breathless.

Emily shook her head, solemnly, being close enough to overhear. She made some gestures that JJ read clearly, but wouldn't be obvious on camera. Their meaning was clear enough to JJ.

Emily had seen them.

* * *

><p>Brushing her hands off, JJ made her way back out. She took a path past Spencer, whispering what she knew in his ear, and then did the same to Derek. Both nodded slightly that they understood. Derek's eyes looked dark and knowing.<p>

Eric Ryan Olson had murdered several people, including a girl who had tipped Rossi off about the possibility of there being a serial killer in her own hometown. Wilson Summers was in JJ's nightmares, because he spent his free time strangling and reviving his own son. She had no idea how they ended up on the race. All JJ knew for sure is that she felt vulnerable as hell now. Her son was here. Hotch's son was here. They were all unarmed. How would they manage to fight back if these guys managed to get a hold of them? This had to be a major violation of some law, but JJ couldn't think about that. She was on her way to attack a fresh bale of hay when she slipped on something.

A clue, placed perfectly in her formerly half-unrolled bale. She knew from the furtive glances that Reid was giving her that he had discovered it and left it behind for her to find.

She locked eyes with the guys and they nodded. A little further out, she caught sight of a second one. Derek gave her a nod and she understood. They were looking for one more. They were still working as a team. So JJ left the clue alone, but dropped her bandana across it, so they would know where to return when it was time to leave.

Some distance away, she saw Derek's shirt, abandoned, and knew that was where the second clue lay.

One more.

* * *

><p>Thank God it didn't take much longer, and thank God JJ actually found a her own clue. That, at least, made her feel like she was pulling her own weight. By now, it was dusk and every muscle in JJ's body was tense. The tandem bike ride was excruciating, but at least Garcia took the front again, and did most of the work.<p>

"Can you stop moving, girl? I can't keep us steady," Garcia called, her voice tense. "Keep an eye out," she warned, and JJ knew Garcia meant, keep an eye out for unsubs, not the next turn or bump, or the train station.

* * *

><p>There was no singing on the way back. No joyous celebrating in the fact that there were still teams that hadn't yet completed the detour. Suddenly, cameras were the least of Garcia's worries. Suddenly, they were all at risk. She used the anxiety to make her pedal faster.<p>

What she really wanted was to go home. To go home and enjoy the fact that all of them were here and alive. Garcia hated the fact that she had agreed to this. She hated that she had involved JJ and then, somehow, so many other people were put at risk too.

She prayed, and rode, and checked in with JJ.

They rode the train in silence, not caring who came in first, but only about making sure that the rest of the team was okay. They started together, and they would finish together.

When they checked in at the end of the first leg, JJ forced herself to stay upright while the host dragged out their arrival to the last possible second.

"Garcia and JJ…I'm sorry to tell you….that you are team number seven and you are still in the game!"

* * *

><p>Back at the hotel, for an all-too-brief twelve-hour respite, JJ and Garcia tried to rest but found it impossible. She tossed and turned, while Garcia snored. When the phone in their room rang, JJ snatched it up.<p>

"Hello?"

"JJ…" Emily's voice greeted her on the other end. "You're still here. Who was last to check in?"

"Gina and Anderson."

"Okay. Listen. You and Garcia come hang out with Morgan and me. We've got the other teams here, too. We've got to talk about this. Figure out how to proceed."

"Where are Henry and Jack?"

"In the bedroom here, watching Spongebob cartoons with your husband and Kevin."

"We'll be right there. Wait…do you know… Where are _they_?" JJ insisted. In her stupor she had nearly forgotten that two former unsubs were on the loose.

There was silence until Emily spoke again, softly. "We don't know. Just be careful, okay?"

* * *

><p>Moments later, with a sleepy Garcia at her side, both arrived at Derek and Emily's room. It was filled with people - every team but Gina and Anderson and the two unsubs - they sat or reclined on every available surface.<p>

"Okay. So, what's the plan?" Rossi asked. "Emily. Are you sure?" He spoke in code on purpose, as Jack was no longer watching cartoons, but seated in Hotch's lap.

She nodded shortly.

"I'll make this quick," Hotch promised. "It's imperative that everyone stay in visual contact with at least one other team at all times. I said it before. I don't care about the race. I care about all of you and our safety comes first. Understood?"

Nods were seen and yeses murmured, and without further discussion, all of them found places to sleep.

JJ fell asleep curled around her son, her husband's arms wrapped around her. She dreamed of darkness, but the sounds of her team - her family - reminded JJ of the truth.

As long as they were together, they were safe.


End file.
